From the time the Pilgrims arrived on American soil, faith in God played an important part in shaping our nation. Images of Moses adorn the Supreme Court in recognition of the Judeo-Christian origin of our laws. But it was Taxes, loss of Liberty and oppression from a mad king that led our Founding Fathers to write The Declaration of Independence and start The American Revolution. Today, those who stand for these ideals no longer call themselves The Silent Majority because we are silent no more.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before." So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November 19, 2008 to the Wall Street Journal. So spoke the man who was slated to run Barack Hussein Obama's White House for the next two years. Rahm Emanuel was considered to be a political genius and his words of wisdom became gospel to every Democrat in Washington turning one crisis after another into an opportunity to carry out a most extreme leftist agenda. Now, today, the same Democrats and their news media sympathizers are applying that instruction to the tragic shooting that took place in Tucson, Arizona last Saturday that killed six people including 9-year old Christina Green and gravely wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The most fitting quote from this whole horrendous event comes from none other than John Green, the father of the slain 9-year old girl who told Meredith Vieira on MSNBC: "This shouldn't happen in this country or anywhere else, but in a free society, we're going to be subject to people like this. I prefer this to the alternative." --

Cal Thomas, the noted conservative columnist, has written a column published on Townhall.com that explains in better words than I could muster what this tragedy has wrought. Here are his opening paragraphs reaffirming the wisdom of Rahm Emanuel:

Cal Thomas
The Liberal Empire Strikes Back

The Left apparently has taken to heart the admonition of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to "never let a serious crisis go to waste."

In the aftermath of the Tucson tragedy that killed six and wounded 14 others, the Left has attacked talk radio, Fox News, Sarah Palin and anyone else it can smear. Never mind there is not a shred of evidence that the accused gunman, the mentally disturbed Jared Lee Loughner, ever watched Glenn Beck or listened to Rush Limbaugh (Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, irresponsibly suggested Limbaugh incited Loughner).

Even if Loughner had watched and listened to conservative media, what does that prove? Millions do, but they don't go on a shooting rampage. What do other murderers and terrorists watch on TV or listen to on the radio? Why isn't the media they consume a matter of interest? Answer: Because it doesn't further the Left's agenda.

Since the Left lost its monopoly of the U.S. media, it has repeatedly tried to suppress speech it doesn't like. Thus, we hear calls by Democratic Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina for the resurrection of the Fairness Doctrine. Rep. Robert Brady, Pennsylvania Democrat, reportedly plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or that incites violence against a federal official or member of Congress. Who would police that and based on what standard?

In the 1980s when conservative groups tried to "clean up" the bad language, sexual references and violence on TV, the Left cried "censorship." When conservatives campaigned against pornography and "music" that encouraged violence against women and racial epithets, they were told a healthy First Amendment required that even the most offensive speech be tolerated. It was the same argument used to allow the burning of the American flag at political protests. But the Left is intolerant of speech it disagrees with and so wishes to censor what it cannot overcome with superior argument.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is representing the United States at the United Nations convention to promote Small Arms Control has chimed in with some choice remarks on this shooting by saying the killer was politically motivated in spite of the facts that reveal just the opposite. Gateway Pundit reports:

HIllary Clinton must have missed the news this morning that leftwing pothead killer Jared Loughner -

“Did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.”

Loughner’s friend says he was not political.

But, why pay attention to facts when you’re out to score political points off a bloody Safeway shooting? Hillary spoke out about the Tucson shooter again today. The Hill reported:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the Arizona shooter who killed six and injured 14, including Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), was motivated by political views.

In an interview with CNN Wednesday Clinton, who had recently referred to the shooter as an “extremist,” doubled down on her comments saying that the shooter was an extremist who acted on his “bizarre” political views.

“Based on what I know, this is a criminal defendant who was in some ways motivated by his own political views, who had a particular animus toward the congresswoman,” Clinton said. “And I think when you cross the line from expressing opinions that are of conflicting differences in our political environment into taking action, that’s violent action, that’s a hallmark of extremism, whether it comes from the right, the left, from al Qaeda, from anarchists, whoever it is. That is a form of extremism. So yes, I think that when you’re a criminal who is in some way pursuing criminal activity connected to — however bizarre and poorly thought through — your political views, that’s a form of extremism.”

The Tucson shooting was an unspeakable horror, a characteristic exercise in American democracy — a townhall meeting outside a Safeway store — interrupted by gunshots and bloodshed. The gunman targeted Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot through the head but survived, and killed six and wounded thirteen others. Any time someone attempts to assassinate a public official it is an attack on the entire country, and the Tucson shooting has been appropriately treated as such by politicians across the political spectrum.

We barely knew all the facts in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, though, before this vicious act was being milked for political advantage by ghoulish opportunists on the Left. Their argument was that the suspect, Jared Loughner, was effectively sent from the Tea Party. Paul Krugman rushed to his keyboard to say, “We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was.” Liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas blamed Sarah Palin because she included Giffords’s district on a map with crosshairs denoting Democrats she wanted to see defeated. Keith Olbermann called for Palin to be drummed from public life unless she repents of her role in the tragedy. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik blamed “the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government,” and called his state “the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry” — apparently for the offense of enforcing immigration laws. And so on.

The irony of criticizing the overheated rhetoric of your opponents at the same time you call them accomplices to murder apparently was lost on these people, most of whom have never been noted for their subtlety (or civility). It is vile to attempt to tar the opposition with the crimes of a lunatic so as to render illegitimate the views of about half of America.

Jared Loughner is clearly deranged, his fevered mind drawn to irrational extremes, whether those of Adolf Hitler or Karl Marx. He was anti-government the way paranoiacs who think the government is controlling their minds are anti-government — think John Nash, not Milton Friedman. Like the Virginia Tech shooter, Loughner had behaved bizarrely around his fellow students, frightening them. One former high-school classmate remembers him as a liberal, yet given what we’ve learned so far about his ravings, it is doubtful Loughner’s disordered mind was capable of a holding a coherent ideology.

That doesn’t stop the Left from arguing that he was basically taking his cues from a map on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. About that map: Martial imagery has been central to American politics for more than a century. Why do Palin’s critics think we say “campaign” or “rank-and-file”? We all use language of this sort, and no one ever before has thought it constitutes incitement.

That said, all of us have an obligation to speak with truth and charity in making our political arguments. Not because hateful talk will drive the mentally ill to criminal acts, but because civility is a good in its own right. We could always use more of it, but it’s not true that this is an unprecedentedly vitriolic time in American politics. The signature chant of the Vietnam protesters still lionized by the Left, “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” is worse than most everything you hear on the airwaves today. Nonetheless, if we all can endeavor to be more civil, a place to start is to not to try to score gross political points off the heinous act of a disturbed individual.

Our prayers are with Rep. Giffords, everyone wounded in the attack, and the families of those who were slain.

My prayers go out also to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of this horrible event wishing them all a full recovery and my heartfelt sorrow to the families of those who lost their lives.

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About Me

My name is Nelson Abdullah. I am 77-years old and after 40 years of working for two major airlines, I retired 15 years ago in 2002, a few months after the 9-11 attack on America. My wife and I have been married for more than 56 years. We celebrated our Golden Anniversary in April 2010.
My wife and I are both lifelong Catholics and registered Republicans.

About this blog

Defending the Constitution.

Our country was created as a Constitutional Republic, a nation of laws, held together by the fabric of the Constitution. The Constitution limits the powers of the government while the first ten amendments, called The Bill of Rights, guarantee the rights of We The People.Defending the Republic.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” —The Declaration of Independence—July 4th, 1776.

Bill of Rights

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.